Legislative Ethics Board Advisory Opinions
Topic
Press Releases - Normal and Regular Conduct
Issue/Question
LEB Opinion Issue/Question
At issue in this opinion was whether legislators could use public resources to issue a press release in response to the Governor's criticism of tax cuts and those legislators/candidates who supported the cuts.
Summary
LEB Opinion Summary
The Board said that the issuance of
press releases to inform constituents about legislative matters is well within
the traditional understanding of legislative duty. In addition, in determining
whether a particular responsive press release qualifies as "normal and regular
conduct" pursuant to RCW 42.52.180, the Board will consider: (1) the timeliness
of the response; (2) the proximity of the response to an election; (3) the
relevance of the response to a legislative issue and to the initial outside
statement; (4) the source of the initial outside statement; and (5) the tone and
tenor of the response. Self-initiated press releases from legislators, using
public resources, are very different from responses to outside sources and
deserve a higher level of scrutiny.
Document
LEB Advisory Opinion Document
Review Outcome and Date
Retired - July 2022. See Advisory Opinion 2021 - No. 1